U4 Expert Answer
Corruption trends in Pakistan over the past 10 years Most governance indicators show an unchanging situation in Pakistan, with corruption perceived as widespread, systemic and deeply entrenched at all levels of society and government. Based on research done for this query and consultations with TI Pakistan, corruption is viewed as being equally pervasive within federal, provincial and local governments. Since first being included in 1995, Pakistan has consistently performed poorly on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of Transparency International, and is among the countries with the most perceived corruption each year. According to the 2007 CPI, Pakistan scored 2,4. (Please see: http://transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2007). The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) of the World Bank have also shown very little progress over time, with weak scores in most areas. Most troubling has been the rapid decline in indicators for political stability, which have deteriorated rapidly since 1998: 1.0 in 2007 compared to 5.8 in 2003 and 11.11 in 1998. According to the World Bank’s WGI, governance actually seemed to improve slightly under the first military government (1999-2002) following Musharraf’s coup. In 2003, the country even performed slightly better in terms of controlling corruption, rule of law and government effectiveness. However, all the country’s indicators have since collapsed (based on 2007 results) except for those related to regulatory quality and voice and accountability. (Please see: http://info.worldbank.org/governance/wgi2007/sc_chart.asp). Further surveys conducted in recent years confirm the finding that corruption in the country has worsened: The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report (2007-08) identifies corruption as the third greatest problem for companies doing business in Pakistan, after government bureaucracy and poor infrastructure. (Please see: http://www.gcr.weforum.org/). Roughly 40 percent of companies in Pakistan feel that corruption is one of their major concerns. Interestingly, the country is seen as a relatively better place for running a business than its neighbours. While the Doing Business Survey of the World Bank, (www.doingbusiness.org) has shown the country slipping two places to 76 out of 178 countries based on the latest results (June 2008), only the Maldives has a higher score among countries in the Asia Pacific region. Apart from the private sector, the general public views corruption to be a stumbling block for the country. TI’s Global Corruption Barometer 2007 shows Pakistan to be one of the countries most affected by petty bribery. More than 44 percent of respondents reported that they have paid a bribe to obtain a service. Half of all those surveyed (52 percent) perceive government efforts to reform corruption as ineffective and nearly two-thirds (59 percent) think that corruption is likely to increase within the next three years. (Please see: http://transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/gcb/2007) The national chapter of TI in Pakistan has also organised more in-depth surveys to look at the problem. Its National Corruption Perception Survey (NCPS), conducted in 2002 and 2006, assessed perceptions of corruption under the previous governments of Bhutto, Sharif and Musharraf. The first phase of each government was rated as less corrupt than the second period that each leader was in power. The next NCPS is being conducted for 2008, with surveys to follow annually over the coming years. (For the 2002 survey, please see: http://www.transparency.org.pk/documents/csr.pdf. For the 2006 survey, please see: 3